“Sorry.” Apologetically, Shane helped the lady gather all her bags. The woman smiled warmly at Shane before turning back to the wards. Shane quickly dashed back into the elevator and impatiently pressed the down button. 

In the safety of the confined space, Shane slumped at one corner of the elevator, wiping the beads of perspiration that formed around her forehead. She couldn’t wait to get out of the place, making a mental escape plan from the building out to the carpark and back to her Jeep. She knew that Carmen was very upset. But she couldn’t stick around she couldn’t face her mother.

Mother!

Shane thought back to the lady’s face. She was Latina and had the same distinctive nose that Carmen had. The eyes and the smile were different. But overall, she looked so similar to Carmen that she could be Carmen’s gasp mother!

“Bing.”

Shane jumped at the sound of the elevator when it reached the ground floor. All Shane could think of now was to run as fast as she could to her Jeep, somehow she believed that her mind would be clearer and she could think better if she was in a familiar territory.

Following the route of her escape plan, she got to the carpark in no time, slamming her back onto the side of the jeep heaving heavily with relief. ‘That was ***** close!’

Carmen had wanted Shane to meet her mother for a long time. But Shane never gathered enough courage to agree to a family dinner. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, she would love to be able to be included in every aspect of her girlfriend’s life. Somehow, it just didn’t seem right just yet.

She knew that Carmen had been very upset about it, and she was grateful to her girlfriend for the fact that she didn’t push. Shane had ran out so many times, but Carmen had never made any comments about it, nor did she once forced her to doing anything she didn’t wanted.

Shane stomped her feet on the ground in anger. How could she let her girlfriend down like that? The only wish that Carmen had, she couldn’t fulfill.

“Is it really that difficult Shane.” Shane murmured under her breath. Maybe it would not be as bad as she thought. She let her thoughts wondered back to the elderly lady she bumped into. “She looked kind enough Shane” Shane berated herself. She imagined how this lady would hug her in a loving embrace and say “Welcome to the family, chica” in a thick Spanish accent.

So was it really that difficult? Shane drooped her shoulders and sighed. “Yes.”

Defeated, Shane climbed into the driver side. She hesitated for a while before turning on the engine, feeling an urge to throw caution into the wind and to go back up to the room. But the coward in her steered her away and she drove out of the carpark.